Secrets and Trinkets
by JessicaHarkness
Summary: Hermione has a secret, one that only Draco knows. She has stuffed it to the back of her mind, locked it away as unnecessary.  When she is forced to relive it front of the entire order she is mortified. That one memory, is about to change her life.
1. The Secret

It was more than a little unbelievable that she would be sitting in a dark corner with the single most vile creature she had ever encountered. It was even more unbelievable that she had caught herself smiling on more than one occasion. It had taken them some time to get to this level of compatibility, Malfoy with his legs propped against the wall, hands tucked behind his head. Hermione wondered briefly it was possible to swagger while sitting down, as that was all his stance implied.

"The correct answer is providing assistance; it is even the obvious answer." His grey eyes turned on her, and made her stomach do the small flip she had come to hate. The loathing reflected their matched her own.

"I know what the obvious answer is; I know what you want to hear. The reason we are here Mud…Granger is because I need to know how to want it." He kicked off the wall and grabbed the book from her hands. It was a text she had from her muggle life, it reminded her of home, and that not all things were about magic. Of course she had found in her studies that author had been very gifted wizard and only half of it was fallacy. But the sentiment remained the same. She had hoped it would trigger something in her counterpart, a sense of humanity. He was growing restless, and a restless Malfoy was dangerous. It threatened their entire arrangement.

"Why would I want to read some filthy old muggle book?"

"That book happens to be a classic in the muggle world it revolutionized an entire genre. It taught people…" he was staring at her in that piercing way, which felt like quicksilver. "You know what, never mind I'm late for Divination."

"You hate that old bat."

"I dislike the class, Malfoy and as you can see by our current predicament I often get stuck doing things I dislike."

"You haven't turned yet, you can't be late." She glared at him, because she knew he was right. He made a face remarkably similar to his mother and continued "I don't want to be here anymore than you. What I want is to be on the winning side when He who must not be named comes back. Snape is in there with him he knows so much, if I can just win his trust I can use that knowledge to bring you know who down. I can't do that if I am tempted by any of the things they offer. I must want to accept it, but be able to resist. You have to make me a better person. "

"That seems awfully honorable Malfoy and considerably unexpected if I do say so. "

"and then it won't be about the bloody boy lived anymore it will be about the man who stopped him." He puffed his chest out then like painted peacock and Hermione resisted the urge to slap him. Over the past few weeks she had hoped something had changed. When he caught her with the time turner, when he watched and waited and put the pieces together she thought for sure that he would be dreadful about it. Then he approached her one afternoon in Hogsmede. With that bloody swagger, and told her quite matter of fact that she was going to help him with a special project or he was going ruin her. What choice did she have, she listened and accepted his proposal. She could respect him a little more, she realized. When it turned out he was just as wretched in private as he was in public. Some small favor, for if it turned out he had been gentlemanly at all she may have been forced to like him.

His progress in what Hermione preferred to think of as particular enhancement was slow at best, but eventually he went for answers and actions; decisions that didn't immediately improve his standing. It was all completely private of course, he needed the stuff you couldn't find in books, and she needed a friend that was a clever as she was. Her few friends in Ravenclaw, seemed to dislike her being in Gryffindor. Her friends in Gryffindor didn't understand her pure love of learning. Draco Malfoy was perceptive, and really truly cunning. It was most disquieting to discover that in a battle of wits they were nearly neck in neck. She had books and learning, but Malfoy had sheer and unadulterated scheming. It was terrifying. She smiled again as he tucked the book into his robe. Stranger in a Strange land, Heinlein was a guilty pleasure of her muggle life. This particular book addressed issues she suspected he might not like, but she felt would only help. To be quite honest she felt a little bewildered it had taken her this long to think of it. He was moving she realized in a sort of weird way, like he wanted to be confident.

He leaned over lingering a second as he passed her hair. "my little mudblood" he whispered, and it didn't make her want to hide, when he whispered in that slippery way. Soft and caressing, it was really the worst sort of nickname and she wished it bothered her. Then he kissed her the Pureblood and the no blood, the time that wasn't.

"Malfoy, we are not doing this, and not because I'm in Gryffindor. Not because I am best friends with your worst enemy…" he pushed his mouth to hers again, and she reasonably respectfully pushed him off "Malfoy, stop."

"you don't trust me." He had the nerve for just a moment to look offended then tucked it away. She realized it was the only time she had seen him caught off guard he hadn't anticipated her asking him to stop. Ewwwww. "I thought we had something granger"

"I'm not an idiot Malfoy I don't think for one instant, that the one person who has tried to offend me and my friends over and over, suddenly takes an interest in me, when after all he is blackmailing me."

"I was born to hate you, raised to want to cause you pain, and I am here every bloody time. Doesn't that count for something? I don't have a time turner I am here with you and only you. Not doing anything else at this point."

"I think your forgetting who is here by choice." She grabbed her satchel and straightened her jumper. "You always have an agenda Malfoy, you can consider this arrangement terminated." He grabbed her by the arm, hard and pulled her close she could feel the point of his chin nestled in the crown of her hair.

"you were my agenda, happy Granger?"

"Don't…" he stopped her with a kiss, a full on proper kiss. She felt her lips part and the warmth of his tongue as it swept hers. Her toes tingled, and she was pretty sure her hair stepped up a frizz level. She wanted to feel the sizzle down her spine again. Something she had ever only read about. Then he stepped away and there was an empty cold space next to her. When she opened her eyes he had stepped back, a cold calculating grin spread across his face.

"I always heard Mudbloods were easy." Then he was gone.

She was more than grateful that they had a no contact rule in the corridors, speaking only indirectly so that it didn't appear they had anything to hide. After all she couldn't avoid him forever. She knew he had tried to tell someone the story of what had happened because a giant read blotch appeared on the left side of his face. The entire word had not spread so he had noted her warning on their first meeting. That was a useful spell she decided. She couldn't help on occasion wondering aloud what Malfoy was up too. Slowly her hurt and anger boiled over into civilized conversation. Hagrid would listen as she'd rant (namelessly) while they prepared for the trial. Then her world shifted and her secret suffering remained her secret. Harry and Ron needed her full attention.


	2. Kiss and Tell

"Malfoy is a traitor. He has no place in the order." Harry looked disheveled, beaten and fairly uneasy. With good reason as he had been dead only a few short weeks ago. The remaining members of the Order had requested he lay low for a few days as those scarce death eaters were rounded up. This time there would be no flexibility for those claiming to be under the unforgivable curses.

"He helped us Hermione, when he didn't have to." She was in a right tizzy about this, learning secondhand no less. That none other than Draco Malfoy had requested admittance to The Order of the Phoenix.

"He will get cleared this afternoon." The grave look on Ron's face told her all she needed to know; the order had already accepted him. Providing of course he could pass the check. Her heart dropped to her stomach. They couldn't possibly see everything. Then it had been her idea, it was completely thorough, the bile rise in her throat. This was awful.

"I don't want to be there, when they do the sweep." She unclasped Ron's hand and made for the door. Hoping that they would assume it was just her hatred of the little ferret that moved her so. Her favorite ginger propped against the door frame blocking her way. Occlumency. Why did it have to be Occlumency? Surely Draco had done loads of terrible things in his life right? They probably wouldn't even make it that far into his past. Her stomach turned again. He was the reason she never let Viktor touch her, he was the reason there had never been any one besides her loveable best friends. Sure she had gone out with a mate or two at Hogwarts. But it was never anything serious until Ron wised up. Even then he could barely touch her without her cringing away.

"Please and give up the chance to go through Malfoy's dirty laundry. Not a bloody chance love." Ron swung his arm around her and pulled her close. She did love I'm in all his awkward glory.

"Ron, this is not about Malfoy's past we just have to make sure his intentions are on the right side." Harry looked past Ron to Hermione, his eyes locked on hers. "Hermione, you know that Order procedure requires that the four highest ranking members be present. Currently that is us. Luna is going to lead the mission; the Pensive is already in the study." Then looking like the brother she had come to view him as, harry pushed is glasses back against the bridge of his nose. "He has information about things we can only imagine. We need him on our side. The war is over, but there is so much to be done."

"He isn't Professor Snape Harry, you do know that. He is not going to be Snape." He visibly cringed at the words, not because she said them harshly she knew. Quite the opposite, he had lost so many people that cared for him. The death he was having the hardest time with was the one he didn't understand. The man who had died to save him only because he was his mother's child.

"Have you ever modified you memory, or has some one done it to you?" no words, no sneer the blond head simply shook.

"Are you here under full and complete free will?" still silence as the head nodded.

"Do you know what it is that we are going to do?" Luna looked less than pleased as he nodded again. Her long blond waves nearly trembling. She was the most skilled at publicly transcribing. Hermione was appreciative that it was a skill she did not possess. The thought of traipsing around someone's mind seemed treacherous and cruel. It was however the single fastest way to see if someone was under the Imperio curse. The results were not so apparent; people were not so plain as good and bad. So it was put into effect that any clearance be supervised and witnessed by four of the highest ranking members. Technically speaking they were the highest ranking members of DA not the order, but as the groups merged they had been grandfathered in. There were no captains or generals. It was more a level of commitment and responsibility within the community.

Luna placed a dainty hand on the edge of the silver pensive and looked upon Malfoy. Hermione knew the intensity of her soft eyes had flared up, that her breathing would become labored. She flicked her wand with an intricate flourish, and prayed that they didn't get too far.

"Reversa fatu" the room swirled with the memories of Draco, surrounding them in swirling silver light. He danced before them, only a few weeks ago in the Battle, the yearning in his mother's eyes when she saw him alive. Then he was younger, Voldermort used him as a pawn; the unbreakable vow to kill Dubmledore. The agony of his arm as Bellatrix held him the Dark lord tracing the dark mark upon his skin. His father berating him for scoring less than a mudblood on his OWLS. Then it changed and he was small, just a boy on his broomstick. Malfoy Manor looming ominously behind him, it was nothing spectacular, but Hermione could see the pure contentment on his face. No scorn. They saw his first meeting with Harry while getting fitted for robes, the memories jumped as Luna decided which doors to open. Hermione panicked when she saw a memory of him in potions, the distinctive red mark upon his cheek. They saw him reading next, that same year the cover of the book Hermione noticed did not move. It was her muggle book.

She wished they would skip past third year, but Voldermort had some power then and it was necessary she knew. Diagon Alley, Honeydukes, the Dementors, they seemed so young only a few short years ago. Luna's demeanor changed, and Hermione knew that she had found something Draco was fighting her on. She pressed forth as the room swirled with slamming doors and random song lyrics. Typical blocking maneuvers they had learned in DADA. Then it churned around them, Hermione's first kiss. The malicious tone as he started to tell Goyle about his triumph. The fear as his face burned with blotches. Then it was gone and another memory took its place. All Hermione could see was the crushed look on Ron's face and the confused look on Harry's. She had never told them.

When it was over they placed the live stream of memories taken and placed them in a vile no bigger than pendent. Protocol dictated that it would need a secret keeper. It was no light task to be a secret keeper. Malfoy was to be a informant not unlike Snape Hermione realized. Though he would not be working for Voldermort, he would still be put in dangerous situations. his life would still be at risk, so would his place in the order. he could jeopardize everyone. Normally Harry or Luna would take this responsibility. Harry because he felt it was his duty, Luna because she had the memories already. Their work load had been so heavy, Hermione felt it would be unfair to make them take this to. Before anyone could argue she slipped the bewitched chain around her neck. It had already been her secret.


End file.
